Near field communication (NFC) refers to short-range wireless radio communication between two devices, typically occurring over distances of no more than a few centimeters. NFC radio communication may be used for financial transactions such as completing a payment transaction from a mobile phone encapsulating an electronic credit card and/or debit card to a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. NFC radio communication may be used to provide personal identification and/or to electronically access physical spaces, for example to provide a student identification, an employee identification, a medical identification; to activate a badge reader to unlock an entry door; to access a hotel room; to access a rental car. NFC radio communication may be used for communicating content such as reading explanatory information from an NFC tag coupled to a placard in a museum or in a retail display.
A secure element (SE) is a combination of hardware, software, interfaces, and protocols that enable the secure storage and usage of credentials for payments, authentication and other services. Secure elements assure security in these service processes. Secure elements may reside on an embedded hardware semiconductor chip in a mobile device, in a removable memory card that holds an embedded chip which can be used as a secure element, and in a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), which is typically used to authenticate a mobile device to a mobile network.